[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 11, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO PERMIT THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES TO BE 
    FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF IN THE EVENT OF THE DEATH OF A MAYOR OF THE 
                          DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 11, 2024

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce a bill that would make a 
small but respectful change to federal law by adding the Mayor of the 
District of Columbia to the list of named principals for whom the 
President shall order the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff. Current law 
states that the President shall make this order ``upon the death of 
principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a 
State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their 
memory.'' Surely the D.C. Mayor should qualify as such a principal. My 
bill would add the D.C. Mayor, who has the same responsibilities as 
state and territory governors, to the current list of officials. This 
bill is part of a series of bills to ensure equal treatment for the 
nearly 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia. In the 116th 
Congress, the House Committee on the Judiciary passed this bill.
  Congress has already acknowledged that D.C. is entitled to a place 
among the states for certain honors. For example, legislation we got 
enacted gave D.C. a coin after D.C. was omitted from legislation 
creating coins for the states and required the armed services to 
display the D.C. flag whenever the flags of the states are displayed. 
We got D.C.'s Frederick Douglass and Pierre L'Enfant statues placed in 
the Capitol, alongside the two statues from each state. We also 
successfully worked with the U.S. Postal Service to create a D.C. 
stamp, like the stamps for the states, and successfully worked with the 
National Park Service to add the D.C. flag alongside the state flags 
near Union Station.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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